For example, in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, in order to suppress the peeling of a film or the generation of particles due to, for example, a contact with other apparatuses, a processing of removing a film formed on the peripheral edge of a substrate may be performed.
As an example of a substrate processing apparatus that removes a film on the peripheral edge of a semiconductor wafer as a substrate (hereinafter, referred to as a “wafer”), there has been known a technology of removing, for example, a resist film or a metal film formed on the peripheral edge of the substrate, or an oxide film or an inorganic film formed on the surface of the metal film by supplying a processing liquid to the peripheral edge of the wafer while horizontally maintaining the wafer and rotating the wafer about a vertical axis.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-036180 (see, e.g., paragraphs [0001], [0026], [0029] and [0030], and FIG. 3) discloses a technology of removing a thin film, such as, for example, a metal layer or a photoresist layer formed on the peripheral edge of a substrate to an arbitrarily set removal width by supplying a chemical liquid, such as, for example, a chemical agent or an organic solvent, from a peripheral edge processing nozzle, which is disposed at the position facing the peripheral edge.
However, there are various types of films formed on the surface of a substrate, and a processing liquid to be adopted varies depending on the type of the film. In addition, the same type of films may have different physical properties pertaining to the ease of removal by the processing liquid, such as, for example, film hardness or film thickness. In these cases, even if the processing liquid is supplied to the same position on the substrate peripheral edge, the set removal width may not be obtained.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-036180 does not focus on such a problem, and does not disclose a method for solving the problem.